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Herter Hall
Constructed: 1969
Architects: Coletti Brothers, Boston, Mass.
Design and Construction
Coletti Brothers designed this modernist, Brutalist concrete building in two sections connected by a second floor walkway. The longer section has two distinct facades: the more interesting west facade has a massing of concrete forms on the lower two floors and grid of windows on the upper five floors; the east facade is composed of seven floors of windows and presents a “window wall,” contrasting with the concrete massing on the west.
Herter Hall was built to accommodate the rapidly growing humanities departments, then housed in Bartlett Hall, a 1950s-era building to the northwest, to which Herter is connected by an underground pedestrian passageway. The language and history departments fill the long main section of Herter Hall, while the Herter Art Gallery and language labs occupy the annex.
Naming of the building
The building is named after Christian A. Herter, Massachusetts governor from 1953 through 1957. During Herter's tenure in office, the Legislature passed the “Freedom Bill,” granting authority to the University to make professional staff appointments.
Source
- Norton, Paul F., Amherst: A Guide to Its Architecture (Amherst, 1975)
- Three Architectural Tours: Selected Buildings on the Campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, 2000)
- For additional information, consult the University Archives (RG 36/101).
